Day 309: The American Scream

Directed By- Michael Stephenson

Starring- Vincent Bariteau, Manny Souza, Matt Brodeur Rick Brodeur, John Duggan, Catherine Bariteau

Run Time- 1 hr. 21 min.

Critics Review- "American Scream is really well done and has a lot of heart."- Fred Topel "CraveOnline"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 100% Audience- 83%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars 

My Review- 

After watching this documentary I can see that people REALLY go all out for Halloween and its awesome. In this documentary we met 3 different people who each did a haunted house every Halloween and each did it differently in their own unique way. The stories from these people were told in away that they were all given equal time in the doc to show they put everything together for the big day on Halloween. I chose this movie because it looked really interesting even though it is after Halloween it was good to watch something like this. It also showed how much effort they all put into their houses, even though their lives are not that great at times, when they are able to do this they are at peace and have their minds cleared. Some of parts of the houses they did were really well done and elaborate and freaking amazing. I would suggest watching this movie since it really interesting to see how much love these people put into these houses every year.

Day 308: Four Weddings and a Funeral

Directed By- Mike Newell

Written By- Richard Curtis

Starring- Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah, Kristen Scott Thomas

Run Time- 1 hr. 48 min.

Critics Review- "Four Weddings and a Funeral provides us with a taste of drama, a bunch of laughs and, most importantly, some restraint."- Christopher Null "Filmcritic.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 96% [CERTIFIED FRESH] Audience- 68%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

In honor of my cousins wedding day, I chose to watch this movie, which is also on a lot of lists for top wedding movies and I think it deserves to be on those list, this movie is very funny. I had always heard about this movie and how good it was supposed to be and everything I heard about it was true. What made this movie as good as it was, was because that it was British humor, and that kind of humor can be dry but very freakin hilarious and it all depends on the actors and the characters that they are playing and it all meshed well with this movie. I think this movie came out during the time that Hugh Grant was not doing so good in his personal life, but he was still funny and made the movie move along since he was the main character, however what made this movie real good for me was the multiple story-lines that happened with each wedding that took place. Each character got focused on during each wedding and we were able to look and like each character more after each wedding took place. Some of the funniest scenes were from Hugh Grant's brother in the movie who was deaf, some of the best one liners and scenes were with him and Grant and made me laugh out loud during those scenes. The only bummer part of the whole movie was the funeral part of the film when Simon Callow's character died, which really sucked for in the film because his character was also really funny along with John Hannah, with Hannah i got to hear his real accent which surprisingly he's Scottish which I never knew. This one movie that should be watched since it is also considered a sleeper hit. This one British comedy I would love to add to my collection. I'm glad I chose this movie for this day, it was both heartfelt, fun and memorable.

Day 307: My Neighbor Totoro

Directed By- Hayao Miyazaki

Written- By Hayao Miyazaki

Starring- Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly, Frank Welker, Pat Carroll, Paul Butcher, Lea Salonga

Run Time- 1 hr 27 min.

Critics Review- "A classic children's film from the master of Japanese animation."- Robert Roten "Laramie Movie Scope"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 90% Audience- 93%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

The only problem I had with this movie is that it need more Totoro in it since the movie is named after him and we do not get to see him a lot which kinda sucks. I have lost count but I think this is the third movie I have seen from Miyazaki and this one is by far my favorite one. It seems like Miyazaki takes his time with animated films such as this one so that they will eventually without him knowing will become instant classics. I really like the stories that he comes up with because they are so simple to follow and so damn entertaining. The characters are also made to be really well liked and not made to be annoying. That's why these kind of movies are so good. Some of my favorite scenes were with Totoro, and the three animals with we're really awesome and entertaining. If you have not seen this movie, you need to watch it, it will be worth your time and you will really enjoy it, I hope.

Day 306: Halloween H2O

Directed By- Steve Miner

Writer(s)- Robert Zappia, Matt Greenburg

Starring- Jamie Lee Curits, Josh Harnett, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Run Time: 1 hr. 25 min.

Critics Review- "While Carpenter's film was all about economy and a skilful use of empty space, Miner's busy compositions have a cluttered feel that is echoed by superflous orchestral music."-Derek Adams "Time Out"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 53% Audience- 57%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star

My Review-

First off this movie was ruined by the theme that made the movie famous as well being RUINED. Also the acting in this movie, you would think would be better from Curtis and Arkin, but no it was shitty and seemed forced, even though I have not really seen any other of the Halloween films beside the 1978 verison, and both of Rob Zombie's versions this one was still crappy and seems like they wanted to make to bring back Michael Myers for a new generation and they failed at it. Big time. This movie lost all the suspense the original movie had and its kinda sad this movies kept being made with out Carpenter, because when John Carpenter did the original one it was brilliant. Now it seems to have scares just to have them at the most random times and by sticking random eerie music where ever they felt like sticking the music. I would not recommend this film be watched, it was short enough to get everything done and out of the way but it was just not that good. I actually like the remakes of the Halloween franchise than I do this movie. Possibly the best part of the movie was LL Cool J and he wasn't even in the film half the time, also along with JGL and it sucked because he died. Avoid this movie at all costs and watch something else if you ever come across this movie.

Day 305: Poltergeist II: The Other Side

Directed By- Brian Gibson

Writer(s)- Michael Grais, Mark Victor

Starring- JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O'Rourke, Julian Beck, Oliver Robins, Zelda Rubinstein

Critics Review- "Seems like a string of special effects held together by a far-fetched story line with an unsatisfying sticky-sweet ending."- Nina Darton "New York Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 39% Audience- 47%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 stars 

My Review- 

I thought that the sequel to the first Poltergeist would be really good since I LOVE the first one and it is my second favorite horror movie and it was from Spielberg. However this one was just downright disappointing. This did not live up to the first ones potential and in my opinion should not have been made. I think whoever wrote it just wanted to make money off the first one or just rushed it and threw a storyline together that in way may no sense at times. One of the best scenes of the movie was when Craig T. Nelson's character became possessed and went a little crazy, other than that the movie was boring at times and did not have that many scares as the first movie did. The effects were great for the movie but that was really about it and nothing else, at times I did enjoy the movie and other times I just wanted it to end. I would say skip this movie. 

Day 304: Cronos

Directed By- Guillermo Del Toro

Written By- Guillermo Del Toro

Starring- Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, Tamara Shanath

Run Time- 1 hr. 34 min.

Critics Review- "Cronos is not really about plot. It is about character."- Roger Ebert "Chicago Sun-Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 91%  [CERTIFIED FRESH] Audience- 67%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]

My Review-

For this being Del Toro's first film, its a really damn good one. Its like his later ones that he has made that focus's more on the characters and their journey throughout the film rather than the plot itself even though it is just as essential to the movie as the characters are. I really loved the concept about an old relic that was hidden away because it was dangerous and then used for the wrong reason, and its the reason that it was created for that makes it dangerous, which is to offer eternal life for all the wrong reasons. This was also a Spanish language film and I loved how it was in subtitles and in English during certain parts of the movie, mostly the scenes with Ron Perlman, who by the way was really good in the movie. This was one of the earliest films I have seen with Perlman and even here in the movie when he is playing the villain I liked him and was actually hopeing he would do something later on that would change the course of his character in the film, but I was mistaken. This also a very different type of film that I had seen from Del Toro since in a way it can be considered a vampire film, its possibly the best one I have seen in a long time. This is the movie for you if you are a fan of Del Toro or just like vampire movies in general, I think you will thoroughly enjoy this film, because I know I did. I would love to watch this again once I finish this journey since it is probably my favorite film from Del Toro it may beat out Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy II. The one thing I did not like about the film is that the music did not fit well throughout the whole film and I was kinda bummed out because it seemed like it was just put into random spots of the film and it just did not work. Other than that I really liked the movie.

Day 303: Eastern Promises

Directed By- David Cronenberg

Written By- Stephen Knight

Starring- Viggo Mortensen Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Run Time: 1 hr. 41 min.

Critics Review- "Mortensen delivers yet another startling performance, stunning in its intensity and cunning in its ambiguity."- Carrie Rickey "Philadelphia Inquier" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 89% Audience- 82%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

I always kept hearing from people to watch this movie, and now that I finally did, it was really good and Viggo Mortensen was freaking amazing. Well for a while this movie was a tad bit confusing than I got the hang of and was able to follow it and man was it good. What really had me with this movie was how great the Russian accents were in the movie even if they were hard to follow at times. This was also probably the first movie I have seen where the Russians were the mobsters, its usually Japanese or Italian, so it was cool to see something different. Also liked how there was little violence in the movie, even though they were mafia, it was mostly story with no violence, and it was only used when it was needed, which is great for these types of films. Even though it was really slow at times I still really enjoyed it, I kinda enjoyed more than Eastern Promises which Cronenberg also directed. This one of Viggo's movies that should not be missed since it is one of his best since the Lord of the Ring Trilogy.